Published: Sunday, October 20, 2013 at 05:20 PM.

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Late one afternoon in the early summer, Lenoir County EMS Cmdr. James Hood was just going about his normal rounds.

He was at Station Two off Fairgrounds Road when the call came in. An elderly man nearby had gone into cardiac arrest. Hood said everyone was in the right place at the right time.

“I was there along with the crew, the sheriff’s office just happened to be in the area, and a lot of the firemen that were working 8 (a.m.)-5 (p.m.) were getting off – the volunteer firemen,” Hood said. “So, there were a bunch of people around who could get to the house in a quick amount of time and begin CPR.”

Hood credits new procedures sent down from the state government helped save the man’s live – paramedics and technicians restarted the man’s heart and stabilized him for his eventual transportation to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.

One of Hood’s crewmembers left a piece of equipment at the hospital, so later that night he returned to retrieve it and ended up spending time with the man’s family.

“They were appreciative of what we did as county EMS and then the county as a whole,” Hood said.

He added, “We had a long conversation that night – stayed up there four or five hours.”

Late one afternoon in the early summer, Lenoir County EMS Cmdr. James Hood was just going about his normal rounds.

He was at Station Two off Fairgrounds Road when the call came in. An elderly man nearby had gone into cardiac arrest. Hood said everyone was in the right place at the right time.

“I was there along with the crew, the sheriff’s office just happened to be in the area, and a lot of the firemen that were working 8 (a.m.)-5 (p.m.) were getting off – the volunteer firemen,” Hood said. “So, there were a bunch of people around who could get to the house in a quick amount of time and begin CPR.”

Hood credits new procedures sent down from the state government helped save the man’s live – paramedics and technicians restarted the man’s heart and stabilized him for his eventual transportation to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.

One of Hood’s crewmembers left a piece of equipment at the hospital, so later that night he returned to retrieve it and ended up spending time with the man’s family.

“They were appreciative of what we did as county EMS and then the county as a whole,” Hood said.

He added, “We had a long conversation that night – stayed up there four or five hours.”

Hood said it changed his entire outlook on his career.

“They welcomed me in,” Hood said. “They call me – I have two young children – they call and wish them happy birthday. It’s like my family’s extended now into their family.”

He initially got into EMS after high school in 1999, when he soured on making electrical engineering a full-time profession while studying at Lenoir Community College.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Hood said.

On urging from his mother to pursue a career in health care, and hearing from friends about EMS work, he went through training and discovered he loved the job.

Hood said one of the things that attracted him to EMS work was the ability to be out and about, and not spend the day behind four walls.

“I was addicted to it,” Hill said about after his training. “All I thought about was EMS.”

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.